Siri

Siri is a virtual assistant with a voice-controlled natural language interface that uses sequential inference and contextual awareness to help perform personal tasks for iOS users. Spun out of the DARPA-funded CALO project, Siri was initially developed by Dag Kittlaus and his team of SRI International as an iPhone app. Apple bought Siri in 2010. In October of 2011 Apple re-released it as part of iOS 5. Siri is currently run by Bill Stasior, vice president, Siri, and the technology is integrated into the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and into Apple's new HomeKit home automation framework.

Siri was re-introduced with a new interface as part of iOS 5. Although it no longer enjoyed the same level of partner integration it had as an independent app, Apple's Siri better integration with built-in services like iMessage, Mail, Calendars, Reminders, Notes, Stocks, Weather, Music, Safari, and a few external services like Google and Wolfram Alpha. It could also tie into Find my Friends.

With iOS 6 Siri made compatible with the iPad, and gained the ability to provide information about sports, movies, and restaurants, as well the ability to open apps, post Facebook or Twitter updates, and hook into Apple's new Maps app for turn-by-turn navigation.

With iOS 7 Siri got a facelift to match the new design language, new, higher-quality voices, access to Settings and Voice Mail, the ability to display tweets from Twitter, tie ins to Wikipedia and Bing,

iOS 7.1 brought Siri integration with the new CarPlay feature. Siri also gained higher quality voices for Mandarin Chinese, U.K. English, Australian English, and Japanese, and a new push-to-talk feature to better control when Siri starts listening, and when it stops.

In iOS 8 Siri is gaining the ability to listen for the "Hey, Siri" command while plugged in. This is meant to help people while driving, while in bed, while cooking in the kitchen, or while likewise too far away or occupied to use the Home button for activation.

Siri is also being integrated into Apple's HomeKit framework so it can be used to control home automation. For example, saying "Good night Siri!" could make sure your garage is locked, lights and TVs are off, and temperature is reduced.

While Siri itself is integrated into the iOS Springboard system, the Siri team is still run quasi-independantly at Apple. Arguably modularizing Siri and integrating the team could allow for a broader scope of services over time. Apple has not yet released Siri for OS X on the Mac, nor have they provided an application programming interface (API) for developers to hook into. (Though it's unclear how that might affect partnership deals, and how collisions could be handled.)

Also, unlike Google Now, Apple hasn't yet put Siri on-board iOS devices, meaning even local tasks like setting alarms have to go out to the internet, allowing the network to affect performance. Likewise, Apple has thus far refrained from adding prescience to Siri, which would allow it to provide information before being asked.

All Siri

While there are lots of sports apps available in the App Store, sometimes it's just easier to ask Siri a simple question than to have to launch apps and search for things. So next time you're wondering when your favorite baseball or football team has a game, just ask Siri instead!
How to look...

If you have a favorite athlete, Siri makes it easy to get up to date statistics on them whenever you want. Sure this is something a lot of third party apps can show you too, but if you ever need to look something up quickly, try asking Siri instead!
How to look up statistics on your favorite...

iOS 8 will feature some important updates for Siri. This includes some hands-free functionality, the rumored Shazam functionality, and streaming voice recognition.
When you plug Siri in, in your car, for instance, you will be able to activate Siri simply by saying "Hey Siri". Additionally, the...

Siri is Apple's virtual, personal, digital assistant with a personality straight out of a Pixar film. With Siri, your iPhone or iPad can help you do all sorts of amazing things, from keeping in contact, to keeping on time, to keeping informed. But first, you may need to get Siri set up and up to...

Siri can answer hundreds of questions, respond to dozens of commands, and scour the web for information on a myriad of topics. Unfortunately Siri may not always understand you correctly or you may simply want to adjust your command or query. Luckily, you can easily edit the text Siri's responding...

Siri is available in dozens of languages throughout the world. Just like you can change Siri's gender, you can also change its language. This is a great feature to remember if you or someone you know lives in a bi-lingual home, or if your iPhone or iPad didn't come out of the box with Siri...

Sometimes you may not want to go to the movie theater that is closest to your current location. Perhaps you'll be out of town but want to be sure you know where you can catch that movie you're dying to see while you're away. Whatever the reason, Siri can not only find nearby theaters, it can also...

No matter where you are, you can almost always find one thing, and that's movie theaters. Perhaps you're traveling or on vacation and decide you want to catch a movie. Once you find one you like, you'll probably need to figure out how to get to the theater. Luckily, Siri can not only help you...

Looking for detailed information about your favorite movie? Perhaps you'd like to know exactly how many movies a certain actor has starred in? No matter what you want to know, Siri makes it simple to find the information you want.
How to use Siri to get information on a movie, director, actor...

If you need to check the scores for your favorite sports teams, there's no faster way to get quick information than with Siri. Want to know what the current score is to a game you can't watch live? No problem. How about the score for the last game? Not a problem either! With Siri, you can calm...

Siri, Apple's personal digital assistant for iPhone and iPad, can do far more than make calls or appointments, send texts or set alarms — it can read children a bedtime story. It takes a little work to coax Siri into doing it, but the smiles you get in return make it more than worthwhile.
To...

Digging around the iOS 7.1 software developer kit has revealed that we may be seeing Siri integration with Apple TV. The code refers to Assistant, which is Apple's internal name for Siri, in relation to device family 3, which is Apple TV.
It's unclear exactly how the feature might be...

If a simple 4-digit passcode isn't secure enough for you, you can choose to protect your iPhone or iPad Lock screen with a longer, stronger alphanumeric password. That greatly reduces the chances that anyone can guess or brute-force their way into your device and access your data without your...

There's a new voice assistant in town, and it's called Cortana. With the release of the Windows Phone 8.1 developer preview today, Cortana is in public hands for the first time. It's new to the Windows Phone kids, but Cortana arrives to competition from not only Siri but also Google Now. So what'...

Wolfram|Alpha can compute and calculate almost any mathematical equation you could possibly think of. Whether you want to know how many pints are in a liter or you need to know solve a quadratic equation, the Wolfram|Alpha service can do it all. As luck would have it, it's also built right into...

Siri makes searching the web on your iPhone or iPad incredibly easy. No need to launch Safari and navigate to Google, Yahoo!, or Bing either. Just ask Siri what you want to know and specify what search engine you'd like to use. Your iPhone or iPad and Siri will take care of the rest!
How to...

The Maps app that comes built-in to every iPhone and iPad can show incredibly detailed 3D maps that you can interact with through a feature called Flyover. Like many other Maps features, you can also access Flyover without ever even launching the Maps app itself by just asking Siri.
How to...

While a plain old Google or Yelp search from your iPhone or iPad can always help you find a place to eat or a store to buy something you need, using Siri in conjunction with the built-in Maps app is not only faster, it gives you the best of both worlds.
How to search for points of interest...

If you use the built-in Music app to organize and listen to songs on your iPhone or iPad, you most likely have custom playlists that you've created over time. If you want to play one of them, you don't even have to launch the Music app. Instead, just ask Siri to play it for you!
How to ask...

Not only can Siri play specific tracks when asked, it can also play specific albums and artists too. All you have to do is ask and Siri and the built-in Music app take care of the rest for you!
How to play music from a certain artist or album with Siri for iPhone and iPad
Press and hold the...